Tender is the Night
by absent writer
Summary: In a world where humans and vampires are forced to coexist, how can a young student survive?
1. Chapter 1

Testing…testing…timidly taps microphone…

Hi…clears throat…hi y'all. Just to let you know, the characters in this story, or at least most of them, do not belong to me. I guess this is my disclaimer. And if I ever claim them to be mine, may RumikoTakahashi poke out my eyes with her pencil. That's all, so please, call off the lawyers. That is all. Also the title is not mine.

Tender is the Night

(Of course, this title is entirely coincidental. I certainly didn't think it sounded so cool I had to steal it from Fitzgerald. No copyright infringements there, heheh )

What you should know before reading this story: In this world, vampires and humans coexist. Unlike in modern movies and TV shows, these two groups are well aware of one another. However, long ago, before anyone can remember, the leaders of both factions compromised: the vampires would be free to attack any town, neighborhood, school, hospital, park, or even a whole city at predetermined times. They would have free reign to do whatever they wished to whatever humans they captured. This pact obviously recognizes that the governments knew that the vampires were much stronger. Modern weaponry does nothing against them, though holy weapons do have some effect, they are useful only when wielded by someone with _faith_, so naturally finding enough people to form a holy army is impossible. However, this has not stopped several paramilitary groups from forming to instigate a revolution against the vampires' reign. The vampires have prescheduled raids on random locations, no one place is hit more than two years in a row, for fear of depleting the populations and causing mass hysteria and panic. At these raids, the vampires (who are winged and usually unarmed except for their teeth and unnatural strength), attack and take only one human each for consumption. However, vampires of higher rank, who gain this rank through strength and cruelty alone, can take as many humans as they like, even if other vampires must starve for them. Typically, at these raids they target young adults. Taking children or the elderly would spark riots and protests, and though little harm could come to the vampires, their leaders fear that the balance that protects their food supplies would be upset, and soon no humans would be left. No one is granted immunity.

Okay, _now_ the story begins. Please review and send comments, this is my first story ever, so no flames, or I'll lock you out or delete your reviews.

Tender is the Night

"BBBBBZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzz…..Good morning Japan! This is Mitsuko Kagame reporting the daily news! Traffic in-------"

Kagome's hand shot out of the covers and slapped her radio off her bedside table. Yawning, she said to the furry lump on the end of her bed, "Get off my feet Buyo" (her cat).

She staggered sleepily to her closet to change into her customary green and white uniform when she heard her mother call from downstairs, "Hurry up Kagome, it's five minutes to seven!"

She ran downstairs, shoved her little brother Sota out of the way, and crammed some toast into her mouth. Around a mouthful of bread she yelled, "Bye mom! I've gotta run!". Her mother yelled back, "Be careful now!". As she watched Kagome run down the shrine steps she happened to glance to the TV.

"Officials at the Arakawa park say that the park will most likely reopen in 3 weeks following the vampire attack which took the lives of 14 people who were unable to escape in time. Protesters against these attacks have been dispersed in the face of new diplomatic relations between the governor and the current vampire leader in Japan, Sesshoumaru………"

Shaking her head sadly, Mrs. Higurashi looked out the window. She had been fortunate enough to have never been in or near one of the raids, but with recent booms in the vampire population, she feared for Kagome. If she could she would lock both of her children in the house all day long, but raids could happen even in residential areas, so they were safer at the schools, where they would only be one of many targets.

"What am I thinking, I can't hope someone else will lose their child instead of me" she muttered softly under her breath. She remembered when her next door neighbor Kaede had lost her son so many years ago to the vampires, and then her younger daughter Kikyo to one of the military groups that tried to physically fight off the vampires.

"Hey Kagome!" Sango yelled as she ran towards Kagome. "How did your date with Hojo go last night?"

Kagome hung her head, "Well………actually I couldn't go. I had to study for a make-up test for Mr. Soichiro. "

"That's the third time you've stood him up or rejected him Kagome, are you sure you don't have a crush on another guy?" Sango teased.

"No, I don't!"

"Well then what's with the anti-aircraft fire?"

"I just don't like him, okay!"

Kagome's spirits went even lower to see her other two friends come, who were even more excitable and obsessed with her love life than Sango, Erika and Akane.

Mustering herself against the onslaught, she said rapidly, "No, I didn't go on the date. I had a math test. I don't like him anyway, even though he's a nice guy. So no more blind dates, or hookups, or locking me into a karaoke box with him. It's never gonna happen."

"Actually" Erika said, "We're not here to talk about that. We do have life and loves outside of you Kagome, even though it doesn't seem that way. In fact, you can help me get a note to-----"

"Didja see Sesshoumaru on TV this morning. He is soooooooo hot, I don't care if he's a vampire, I'm going to marry him" Akane squealed/interrupted.

"Hello!" Kagome yelled, "One, he's a vampire, two, he'll kill you and suck your blood, and three you've only ever seen him on TV or in magazines. It's not gonna happen, unless he decides to raid the school or something."

"That's not funny Kagome" Sango said, "That could really happen, you know."

"Akane's budding relationship with Sesshoumaru, or a raid?" Erika said innocently.

"WELL A RAID OF COURSE!#$#!" Sango yelled, "This area hasn't been hit for years, so we're a bigger target than ever."

"Well, if they do come you can fight them off karate girl." Kagome said to Sango.

"Actually, it would be pretty cool to actually fight a vampire but---wait a minute…SHUT UP KAGOME!" Sango screamed. The bell rang for class, and the girls ran off to class, Kagome to a doomed math test.


	2. Chapter 2

Tender is the Night Chapter 2

See disclaimer on chappie 1.

"…………"

"Okay, you studied the textbook just last night, you can do this Kagome!" Kagome muttered to herself.

"Number one: Simplify tangent times cosine over sine! This is impossible, you liar!" she said to herself yet again.

Peeking around the room she noticed that she was the only one stuck on the first problem. Hojo looked up at her with a smile on his face. Kagome sighed, apparently he had managed to forgive her for not showing up for the date last night. "I wish he'd just take a hint" she sighed. But somehow she didn't think so.

45 minutes later…

"Free at last!" Kagome cheered mentally, until Hojo approached her. "Hi Hojo, sorry about the date last night, but I had to study for this math test you see…" she said sheepishly.

"Oh! So that means you're free to go to the movies with me tonight! See you later!" he said cheerfully and then walked blissfully down the hall, while Kagome stared open-mouthed behind him.

"Wait Hojo! WAAAIIT! Oh, it's no use. Maybe I can get Sango to tell him off for me. She's the most cold-hearted, horrible---"

"Well, excuse me for not being a doormat!" Sango broke in suddenly right behind her, "So how did your math test go?"

"You don't want know, trust me."

"Hmm, maybe you should have gone on that date with Hojo after all."

"NO WAY!"

"Kagome! Sango! Over here!" yelled Erika and Akane from outside.

Once they caught up, Akane said, "Did you notice how weird the teachers seem today? Mrs. Narusegawa gave me a D on my history essay!"

"You would have gotten a D anyway. I saw you writing it in the library right before class!" Erika said.

"Shut up!"

"Actually, I did notice that Mr. Soichiro was a little different today. He didn't frown at me when I turned in my math test today! It seemed like he wouldn't look anybody in the eye. Maybe he's not feeling well...ah! Maybe I did better on that math test than I thought I did!" Kagome said.

"Not unless you got Hojo to give youhis answers. Is that why you're going to the movies with him tonight?" Sango taunted her.

"YOU ARE!" Erika and Akane squealed in exact unision.

"NO I'M NOT! You mean you heard him Sango? Why didn't you help me?"

"Well maybe I would have, if it weren't for that 'horrible' remark. Besides, you guys would make a good couple. Dumb and Dumber"

"See! That's what I mean by horrible!" Kagome yelled, pointing her finger at Sango.

"Oh, never mind," Akane said, "look, here comes your math teacher."

"Come to fail you at last Kagome" Sango muttered to her, grinning.

"Come along ladies, everyone needs to go into the quad (center of the campus) now" Mr. Soichiro said, and then walked away.

"He _is_ acting strange, he was just staring at the ground while he talked to us!" Kagome thought to herself.

They walked toward the quad and noticed that nearly every student was there, and all the teachers were just walking around ushering more students in.

"Oh shoot! It's starting to rain!" Akane yelled. "Teacher, can't we go back inside?"

"No, just stay here. And no bathroom breaks either!" a teacher yelled.

"Hardass…" she muttered.

Kagome just remained silent and looked around. Everybody was asking everybody else what was going on, and there was nothing on the calendar about an assembly. It was sprinkling slightly, and the sky was cloudy and it was incredibly cold. "Sadistic teachers" she mumbled shivering slightly.

She noticed Sango staring up at the sky, almost hypnotized. "Sango?" she asked, butSango ignored her. She glanced upward, but a sudden scream drew her attention.

It was a freshman sheknew from art class named Rin. Kagome knew her to be a biteccentric and nervousat times, but this seemed differnet. She was screaming hysterically while pointing up at the sky. "Oh my God! They're coming! They're coming! RUN!" and then she sprinted away from the group towards the cafeteria, but the teachers blocked her way. Everyone immediately looked to where she had pointed, with foreboding and an awful familiarity in their thoughts.

There, I'm done with chapter 2. Please review and tell me what you think!


	3. Chapter 3

Tender is the Night Chapter 3

Kagome looked up and saw strange black shapes in the sky, almost like birds, maybe crows. Only they seemed to be getting a lot bigger. A moment later, when their shapes became discernible, pandemonium broke out.

Screams filled the air as all of the students took off in every direction. The teachers didn't even try to stop them, once the raids begin it was every man for himself. Kagome did not run but stood hypnotized as some creature dropped from the sky toward her, he seemed to be wearing a sort of cape that took the shape of wings when---

"Kagome run!" It was Sango tugging on her sleeve, and she ran half-pulling her friend towards the classroom buildings. Kagome screeched to a halt, saying, "Where's Erika and Akane? I can't see them!"

"What! Wait a minute, they're over at the entrance! Hurry!"

Suddenly a horde of screaming students ran in from behind and separated Kagome and Sango. "Sango wait! Oh God, where is everyone!" Kagome screamed.

To avoid being trampled she ran with the crowd until she caught a glimpse of Sango back in the quad. She turned toward her when she heard Erika's voice on her left.

"Erika, where are you!" Kagome yelled until she saw her on the ground with one of the creatures on top of her. She ran towards her in some desperate attempt to save her when the creature's cloak dropped and it turned its head. Kagome's eyes widened in surprise.

"What the---Sesshou…Sesshoumaru…" It seemed like some fantastic scenario, she had only just seen him on TV on the news that morning. Just a few hours ago Akane had been gushing over him. For a moment she paused, forgetting who he was and thinking the whole raid a huge mistake when Erika screamed again.

"Oh God Kagome! Help me!"

Kagome snapped back to the present and reality returned. Of course he would be here, and the irony of him attacking Erika crossed her mind when she noticed some loose bricks at a nearby building. Part of the wall was smashed in as if it had been hit by a truck. She shuddered to think of what had happened there.

She ran over and picked up one of the bricks, it was surprisingly heavy, and she staggered back over the Erika with it, dodging running students. She thought she would hit him with it and when she got close she began to spin it around, aiming at his head when her grip loosened and it flew out of her hands.

She heard a sharp thunk and then a snarl. She looked up and saw Erika get up and run away towards the school exit along with a group of other students and then turned and saw Sesshoumaru a few feet away, with the brick broken in half next to him. He snarled again and she saw that his eyes, unlike on TV that morning, were blood red.

He began approaching her, going impossibly fast, and she turned and ran into the classroom building. She sprinted as fast as she could on the slippery linoleum floor when something that felt like a sledgehammer hit the middle of her back and she flew across the hall and skidded until she hit a statue at the end of the hall.

Wincing, she grabbed onto the statue for support as she got up when the same force hit her again, pinning her against the alcove the statue stood in. She caught a glimpse of long white hair and tried twisting away, but his grip was too strong. She heard a long hiss and she reaching out for a hold on the wall or a weapon, anything to escape.

She started when she felt a cold hand within her own, and realized that it was the statue's, and remembered that some over-zealous teachers had placed a statue of the Virgin Mary in that hall.

"God, oh God, someone please help me!" she thought.

She began struggling wildly, trying to escape and protect her throat at the same time, and the statue's hand broke off, and without thinking she rammed it at Sesshoumaru's throat as hard as she could.

Suddenly a black ploom of smoke came into her eyes and mouth and she staggered away coughing. She looked round to see how she had escaped when she saw Sesshoumaru clawing at his throat, and she saw that the hand of the statue had somehow stuck onto him and was burning him. She took the opportunity to run and dove out a side door onto a battlefield. Screaming students were scattered in small groups throughout the campus, and she saw more vampires dressed similarly to Sesshoumaru herding students into larger groups. With a chill she saw a girl, a student, lying on the ground besides the doorway. She saw with relief that the girl was not Sango, Erika, or Akane, and she leaned down to try and wake her up and saw the two tell-tale bloody marks on the side of her neck when the sound of a horn pealed across the school.

All of the vampires looked up at the sound away from the students they had trapped, and miraculously, lifted into the air and left their victims behind.

"Is it over?" the thought ran across her mind fleetingly when she sensed a pair of eyes glaring at her. She turned around and saw Sesshoumaru standing right behind her.

She tried to run but her legs wouldn't work, and she saw that his eyes had returned to their golden color like on TV, and he did not attack her, but only stood staring at her face. It was almost like he was trying to memorize her features when he moved. She closed her eyes and ducked, and a gust of wind blew over her and when she looked up all she saw was a rising black shape in the air.

"Kagome! KAGOME!" someone yelled, and she saw Akane running towards her. Sighing with relief, Kagome ran towards her.

"Are you okay!"

"Yes! But where are Sango and Erika? What if they're---"

"We're fine" said Sango as she and Erika came walking around the corner. Sango had a large gash over on eye but seemed fine otherwise.

"You're bleeding! Are you al-" Kagome said when Sango interrupted her. "It doesn't matter. Look."

They looked around, and saw the students milling around in disbelief. "They're…gone."

At that moment they heard sirens and saw police cars and ambulances driving in, and news trucks in the distance.

Finis

There, tell me what you think, I think maybe I could have described it more. Sorry it took so long to get out. Please REVIEW!


	4. Chapter 4

Tender is the Night Chapter 4

Again, see zee disclaimee in chappie 1.

"Ow!" Sango snapped at the paramedic stitching up her forehead. "That hurts you know!" Grumbling, she sat back down and let him finish up. "It's not that bad, I don't think I need to go the hospital…"

"Well, it could have been a lot worse" Kagome said to her, "How did you get it anyway? It's probably gonna leave a scar. Don't tell me you actually tried fighting one of them, did you see what happened to the art building. The wall collapsed completely!"

"I didn't actually directly fight one. After we got separated in the crowd I went looking for you. I was running by the art building because it was too crowded to go the other way, when everybody started screaming and scattering in different directions, and then I heard this giant explosion and I fell down. I guess I fell on top of some bricks or I got hit by some rubble cause when I woke up I had this cut. "

"Huh, I'd kind of pictured you in some fight-to-the-death with 5 vampires at once."

"Please, I didn't even see any, except in the sky, YOU'RE the one who actually fought one. By the way, you should probably avoid the quad, there's a bunch of news vans there and since Erika is talking to them, they'll probably want to interview you or something."

"Sure, do you have a phone? I need to call my mom."

"Yeah, here you go."

Meanwhile, Erika and Akane were being interviewed by some reporters who had managed to make better time than the police.

"Well, we're just glad it's all over and all our friends are okay…" Akane said smiling into the camera when Erika squealed, "Well I wouldn't have made it if it wasn't for Kagome…KAGOME! Come on! You can be on TV! Anyway, there was this vampire right on top of me and then she hit him with something and she saved me and she is such a hero and…" when the reporter cut her off.

"Heh heh…(sweatdrop) well why don't we go see what the principal has to say on the subject…" and he fled with Erika and Akane tailing him.

Kagome dodged cameras and headed to a more secluded corner to call her mom with Sango's cellphone.

"Hi, Mom? It's me…uh huh, uh huh, uh huh, uh huh…yeah I'm fine! Don't worry, everyone's okay except for Sango, she got a cut on her head and she's getting stitches now…"

"OWWWWWWW!"

"Yeah, she's fine. I'll get right home."

Kagome snapped the phone shut and then trotted across the quad to give it back to Akane when Erika accosted her.

"Thank you SO much Kagome, I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't been there…and this is gonna sound crazy but I think I recognized that vampire! Wasn't it that Sesshoumaru guy on TV? The one Akane likes?"

"Yes, I think so" and Kagome turned to head towards the parking lot to get picked up by her mom when Erika stopped her.

"Um…I don't know, but maybe you should stay away from the school. I probably should too. I mean, well, I'm not sure but I think that Sesshoumaru is pretty important…he was on TV and everything, and you managed to fight him off, what if he wants revenge or something?'

"Oh, my mom won't let me go back for awhile anyway, besides it's not like I was just gonna stand there and lose you. But I'll still be here for the assembly next week…the school needs to figure out which students were taken and to reschedule classes…but come over later with Sango and Akane, we need to celebrate!"

Meanwhile, in one of the skyscrapers owned by Shikonco dominating Tokyo, several men and women were assembled in a conference room.

"What do you mean you want to stage a second attack! The first ended just this morning!" a woman with red eyes and a bun said to her associates, "This is completely unorthodox and I cannot permit—"

"Yes, but the enrollment numbers at the school given to us were false. It seems that there are a great deal more students there than previously anticipated, meaning more 'cuts' should have been made." a man with long dark curly hair sitting next to her said calmly, "We can't let something like that pass, or they'll forget their place."

Without saying anything more, all heads turned to look at the head of the table, where the head of the company and diplomatic affairs sat. Sesshoumaru looked each in the eye and said simply, "I don't see why not. They're just food. That's all."

Everyone left the room except for him, and he glanced through a book acquired at the school. It was a yearbook. He flipped through school photos and unconsciously touched a burn mark on his throat, which had already almost completely healed and paused on one page, staring at a familiar face.

"Kagome Higurashi"

Done! Looks like Kagome's screwed, and please review!


	5. Chapter 5

Tender is the Night Chapter 5

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I honestly can't believe I'm uploading another chapter of this. Anyway, enjoy.

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Never before had Kagome dreaded going to school more.

Granted, normally it took no less than her younger brother Souta rushing into the room armed with a twenty-pound cannonball (otherwise known as Bouya) and several metal pans off the breakfast stove to drag her out bed. That is, the only way to shut him up was to get up and throw him bodily from the room, and after such early morning exercise staying awake was much easier.

But today was very different. Waking up was easy after the nightmares that began to haunt her after the attack only a week ago. However, the once familiar path to the school seemed a lot longer this time around. By the time she had covered just a few blocks, it felt like her lungs were on fire, and she counted no less than three stitches on her side.

_Probably tore something throwing that brick...how sad..._

She snorted quietly, but the sudden intake of breath made her wince slightly. Not only did her sides ache, but every morning since the 'incident' she had woken up in a cold sweat, her hands tingling slightly as if she had been sitting on them for a while. Even if these and other physical ailments had not been plaguing her for the past few days, there was no doubt that Mrs. Higurashi would still have been as vehemently opposed to her return to school as she had been that morning. In addition to her grudgingly-accepted soreness, she now had a pounding headache from their argument that morning.

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The kitchen table was set with three plates and dishes of pancakes, sausage, and scrambled eggs crammed in haphazardly in the middle. Souta was already in the smallest chair, pouring what amounted to half a bottle of syrup over three pancakes.

"You're gonna get fat eating all that, you know!" All the same, the sight of the veritable feast in front of her made Kagome's mouth water slightly. Usually she just had a one or two pieces of buttered toast for breakfast, but lately, unless she ate more, her stomach was already growling half-way through her first class. Sadly enough, this particular class was math, giving the teen yet one more plausible excuse for her failings in the subject.

Her younger brother scowled slightly, and his grip around the bottle tightened. The thick, golden liquid had spilled off the flat bread by now and was pooling in his plate.

"You're one to talk!" he shot back.

Kagome opened her mouth for a retort, only to find herself temporarily at a loss of words. It was true...for about two weeks previous to the 'incident' (as it was now referred to only as) big breakfasts had become a regular menu item for her. And not just during the morning, either. Though it probably wasn't healthy, she had began packing her own lunches on school nights to make sure all her favorite foods got in there. All her friends had started asking her about her dieting secrets in addition to her nonexistent love life.

So it was no wonder that her family had noticed.

Despite the remark, she still sat down at the table and loaded her own plate with the still-steaming food before her. However, the sausage remained untouched. Though her appetite had increased to almost comical proportions, meat repelled her. She couldn't even stay in the kitchen while her mother was cooking it, the combination of the horrid smell and the sight of the slippery, raw meat being held by human hands was sickening. Though she took care to never mention that to her mother, as the house matron took pride in her cooking.

She had just snagged the syrup bottle from Souta's grip when said cook walked back into the kitchen. The older woman had a familiar smile on her face, only it faded when she saw what Kagome was wearing.

Specifically, the trademark white blouse with a green pleated skirt. And that could only mean one thing.

"A new fashion, I assume...?" Though normally so cheerful and sunny even during the ungodly hours of morning, this time her voice had taken on an icy tone. Just like whenever either of the siblings should happen to mention their long-lost older sister's name.

Kagome gulped audibly, both to force down a particularly gluttonous bite of gooey batter and in a fit of nervousness. What she had to say would probably not go over very well, and even Souta was able to catch the aura of tension and guilt coming off her, and set his fork down at looked up eagerly.

_Effing little tattle-tale...once he starts middle school I'll put up those pictures Mom took when he was a baby..._

Once she finished clearing her throat, she said in a rather quiet voice, "Actually...I thought I would go to school today..."

Her mother's face tightened slightly, and for an instant she looked nearly unrecognizable. "I don't think so."

"But mom—"

"No but's about it! I won't have you going back there! It's only been a week since that—that horrid..."

"Stop worrying about it!" Kagome had stood up by now, plate forgotten. "They're holding the assembly today, and I want—I want to...you know, check on everyone..."

Mrs. Higurashi's eyes softened slightly, but she seemed unwilling to let a little sensitivity derail her now.

"I understand that it was thanks to you that your friends were perfectly alright when we left. And how could you put yourself in danger like that?! Completely irresponsible! What if you had died?!"

Her daughter was struck speechless. "Would you prefer it had been Erika?! I had to...I just had to! Don't you understand?! Don't you..." her yelling dimmed down to a small murmur when she saw the crushed expression on her mother's face.

The woman sighed slightly and braced herself against the back of her chair, her other hand kneading her forehead. "You're just like your sister..." And to Kagome's surprise, there was a slight, sad smile on her lips. "Just...promise me you won't do anything like that again unless you have to..."

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The remaining half hour until it was time to leave for school had been nearly unbearably awkward for everyone in the room. Yet once she had escaped the stifling house, she found herself strangely reluctant to move any closer to the school. True, there was an assembly, but she dreaded facing everyone's hollow faces, as everyone who had died just a week ago had left behind friends and family...

Or at least, that was part of the reason.

Inexplicably, a sense of foreboding was fogging her brain, weighing down on all motivations to keep going. Even her legs felt slightly weighed down, and her fingers tingled more than ever. However, the thought of seeing her friends again, alive and well, was more than enough incentive.

And with that thought, the raven-haired teenager took off at a dead run, leaving her worries behind her.

"Kagome! KAAGGOOOMMEEE!!!" Sango's voice rang throughout the dead-silent quad. Ironically, the only one who didn't turn to look at her was the object of her attention.

The tom girl trotted up, and then screamed in her ear. Everyone jumped slightly at the noise, as the scene was almost a bit too reminiscent. The student body massed in the quad, the cloudy sky...only this time the teachers were walking amongst the students bearing lists...

This time, Kagome couldn't ignore the girl. "WHAT!"

Sango smiled sweetly, and then replied in as sweet and quiet a voice as possible. "Want to eat some brunch with us?" she pointed to a secluded alcove about twenty yards away from them in which Erika and Ayame were waiting. The latter seemed pale and slightly shell-shocked, and Kagome was surprised that she had been allowed to return to school. Then again, pretty much everyone there looked exactly the same. The loud girl in front of her was the only exception.

Sighing resignedly, she allowed herself to be dragged over to join the rest of the group. About halfway there, they were stopped by none other than Kagome's math teacher, Mr. Soichiro. He held a slim blue binder in his hands. It was quite innocent looking unless you knew what it contained.

"Anybody you want to...account for?" The man seemed exhausted, and the new lines that had formed around his mouth and eyes made him look thirty years older.

And secretly, both girls hoped that it was guilt settling into his face.

"Is...is Hojo on there?" He flipped open the cover, traced the name, and then shook his head no.

"Thank God then...I wonder where he is?"

"Thank God indeed..." and with those last words, the man wandered off, and Kagome was not sure if he had even said anything. It just wouldn't do to discover she had voices in her head now. Other than the one that gave her false hope during tests.

As soon as he was out of sight, Sango wrapped her arm through Kagome's and whispered in her ear behind her other hand, "I can't believe that guy! They let us get attacked! Helped, even!!"

The other girl merely raised an eyebrow. "What's this? I ask whether or not Hojo was viciously attacked and then sucked dry by a vampire and you didn't assume I had fallen madly in love with him? Are you sure we aren't really dead and I'm in Heaven?" She cocked her head to the side slightly. "Then again, if that were true, then why are you here?"

_Or them, for that matter. _

Though she did feel a great deal of hatred for the man, along with the rest of the teachers who had lead them to their more-than-probable deaths out in the quad the two girls were crossing now, it was probably nothing next to any other student who had lost a friend during the battle. Not to mention, the talk a.k.a. screaming match with her mother that morning had pointed out something rather unpleasant that she had never really noticed before.

That is, nobody was infallible. Their teachers...their parents...everybody who was supposed to care about their safety and futures would not be able to help them when they were needed most.

Once they reached the alcove, Kagome noticed another girl there with Erika and Ayame. It was Rin, the girl who had screamed the warning what felt like yesterday. She had always been rather short and small for her age, almost like a child, but now her skin was sallow and there were startlingly dark circles beneath her eyes. Her hair was lank, and she leaned against the wall slightly.

_Did she lose somebody?_

That shattered look was mirrored over and over again on every person milling about the quad. Some even burst into tears, and Kagome felt even luckier to have had all her friends spared. She spared a glance at Erika, who was staring at her folded hands in her lap, and the rush of gratitude suddenly transformed into nausea. They had come very close to...

"Kagome?"

"Wha—" her neck cracked slightly as she snapped to attention and faced her friend. "What is it, Erika?"

"I just wanted to say...in case I didn't before. I mean, it's just—"

"I get it, it's alright."

"But I—"

"Not but's. Just forget about it. You all would've done the same for me." At that point, Sango and Ayame, who had been listening in on the conversation with no small amount of confusion, suddenly understood what they were talking about.

Sango immediately interrupted hotly, "Of course we would! All for one and one for all! Whatever that means, anyway..."

She immediately looked around, waiting for their other two friends to throw in their responses, maybe even join in some cheering. However, she was wrong on both counts.

Ayame lingered slightly in the corner, looking down at the ground. Erika, however, kept eye contact with both of them.

"I-I don't know about that...I mean, facing off one of them...it just chills me to the bones and my legs just start without me even knowing...if we were switched around, I really don't know what I would have done..."

Ayame spoke up quietly, "I saw what happened to you Sango..." Said girl swirled around to face her, mouth dropped slightly open. Her tanned skin had managed to pale slightly at Erika' confession.

"I saw when you fell and nearly got trampled in front of the science building. You were bleeding and your eyes were closed..." she sniffed slightly and her voice wavered, "and I—I didn't stop! I couldn't see them, but I was just so scared, and everybody was screaming and I didn't want to be left behind..."

"So you left me there."

All five girls perked up at this, even Rin snapped out of her daze, recognizing the tone in Sango's voice. One didn't hear it often, as she only used it when about to beat the living hell out of someone who had managed to offend her somehow. Not something petty like stepping on her foot and then not apologizing. When it got dangerous.

"S-Sango, I—"

"I what?!" Her voice was rising now. Unlike the other two girls who were quavering before her, she did not dissolve in a mess of tears, and though her eyes got slightly shiny, when Kagome looked into them she saw only a raw strength so common to the girl. "I was too much of a coward to save my best friend's life! I couldn't even spare a moment to drag her into hiding? I was so keen on saving my own hide to even think about anyone else? Even someone who would have stood by me, even run by me?!"

"That's not what I—"

"Maybe not what you meant to say to me...but what you were thinking, wasn't it?"

"Look, I know you have a right to be mad, but I've never been in a situation like that before! I was scared, and—and..."

"Well, look at Kagome!" As her voice echoed across the strangely still field, Sango pointed her index finger like a sword and the other girl. "She's not like a tomboy at all and she saved Erika! Who probably would have left her to die if they'd switched places! You know what, they say it's a crisis that tells you who your friends really are. And they're right about that."

And with those words, Sango seized Kagome's hand and dragged her along once again, only this time away from their friends.

An hour or so later, after all the speeches and memorial pieces had been said, most of the students were hanging around in the quad to talk with their remaining friends. Though they would all like nothing better than to leave that place, it was probably the safest spot by now. And one never knew when one of the rogue vampires would be loitering around, waiting for them on the streets outside the school.

Sango had been grinding her teeth loudly throughout the whole service, shooting dirty looks at Erika and Ayame when the principal mentioned "the heroes among us". Kagome could swear that she had heard the girl muttering under her breath as she glowered at the two, "Budding relationship with that damned Sesshoumaru...I'll shove her into his waiting arms next chance I get..."

And that chance came all too quickly.

Because the students were so jumpy this time around, Rin wasn't the first one to scream. But most of the students just stared up in shock, like this was some sort of nightmare, or perhaps the previous was a nightmare and this the reality...

Kagome and Sango were already up and out of their seats. They couldn't afford to separate, and their hands were tightly clasped as they sprinted from the wide-open stage to the edge of the school.

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"Why—are—they—here?!" Sango panted, her hand held over Kagome's sweating slightly. Despite this, the latter felt reassured looking into the other girl's eyes. There was fear, yes, but also determination. It was just something she _knew_, that she was absolutely certain of. Their survival however, rested on the chance that they could hide in one of the neighborhoods surrounding the school. There'd been no warning about this no doubt, it was unheard of for the same place to be attacked twice in a row. Especially in a week.

Perhaps fellow people's doors wouldn't be barred against them. And if so, Sango was prepared to throw Kagome over a fence and then jump over herself.

"Maybe—they're—negotiating?" However, both girls kept running, unwilling to take the risk.

As Sango managed a snort of disdain even as she was panting for breath in mid-stride, Kagome just focused on covering as much distance as possible. Before she had concentrated on finding her friends, on keeping them safe. However, at the moment, the person she most wanted safely beside her was already there.

_Have we all really changed that much? _

Before they knew it they had reached the back wall of the history department, marking the south end of the campus. Instantly they gained a second wind, the sounds of screams and roars were long distant, and perfectly manicured green lawns and the typical suburban houses were just a few yards of black pavement away. And nothing could happen there, right?

For an instant an image of that man, no, monster, who had attacked her just a week ago came to mind. Why had he stared at her like that?

Just like he was staring at her right now.

Though she was running at full speed, there was no way she was going to dodge the pale hand with poisonous purple stripes running across it that flew from his trench coat and wrapped around her throat.

She choked and at first didn't even register the lack of oxygen her tired legs desperately needed. The force of being stopped solely by a few inches of cold flesh around her throat was like a sledgehammer, and she felt stunned for a moment or two. Dimly, she heard Sango in the background, screaming something. The grip was steady, and once she noticed how hard it was to breathe, her vision was already blurry around the edges.

A second later, however, the grip released her and she collapsed on the ground, gasping for breath. Once the black spots faded from her eyesight, she saw Sango get back-handed, the sound of the slap absurdly loud to her ears. It was almost like a flyswatter, only on a much larger and more worrisome scale. The girl collapsed on the ground, cradling the side of her face with one hand. It wasn't like in soap operas on TV, from the force of it, she likely had a broken cheekbone, assuming he hadn't bent her head around enough to snap her neck.

_Where are these thoughts coming from? _Images of war, blood, horror ran through her mind. Though she could see the tall vampire walking calmly towards her as if he hadn't nearly just killed her friend, her thoughts had slowed down.

He said something, but all the sounds were slurred together. However, when he pointed to Sango and gestured to some unknown presences behind her, even her fogged brain could understand that it was too late.

_Maybe it's all a dream...maybe I'm still taking that math test...ha ha..._

Then the fingers were back, only now she felt the hard, sharpened nails on the edges digging into her skin. With a somewhat unconcerned expression she met his gaze, and golden met sapphire.

_He really does have beautiful eyes...Ayame was right, for once...it's too bad that—_

Then the nails pierced through, and she screamed. Sesshoumaru did not flinch at the high-pitched sound, but paid more attention to the ominous hissing noise coming from his hand. It was disturbingly familiar. Her blood was dripping from his talons down his rest, and wherever it went his skin was searing, steam was coming off of the wounds.

He snarled but did not let go, determined to finish off the girl. It was obvious what she was now, the hand of the statue, the blood...better to kill her now, than let her...

_Let her what?_ And then that annoying, rational voice in his mind spoke up. Usually whenever he felt especially angry, whenever his instincts took over, the last vestiges of his once-human mind tended to manifest. In this case, it was reason, or perhaps cunning.

The blood was still trickling down his arm, melting the protection seals he head wrapped around it. Extraordinary.

Wait, had that thought been his, or another's?

Nevertheless, she would have to go. That bastard brother of his already had two of _them_ on his side, and if he didn't know any better, this girl looked disturbingly familiar to the female one the half-breed was besotted with. If they were related...and with this power already...

With the satisfied look of one who is absolutely certain of the future, Sesshoumaru leaned down and sank his fangs into her throat.

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A couple seconds later, Sango awoke, only to find a face looming over her. A face with fangs on it.

With a yelp, she leaped away and saw that there were, in fact, three of them. Looking at her with a somewhat amused and...for lack of a better word, hungry expression on their faces. One of them, obviously the leader, smiled at her.

"Well well well...what do we have here? A stray, perhaps?" His voice was smooth, and he, like all vampires, was extremely pale. She could see the veins snaking across his face, and wondered if they had any blood in them.

_But whose..._

And then it hit her.

"Kagome?! KAGOME!!! Where are you—"

"Oh no, calling for your friends already? I don't mind actually, as I'm not as fond of sharing as of...other things." The grinned suggestively at her, probably in more than one way, to her disgust.

"You better not have hurt her, or I'll—"

"You'll what? Throw a rock at me? Call for help? Spray some mace?" he taunted her. "You are the only one here, though I would be more than happy to be introduced to your friend. Don't you agree?" the other two, who looked a bit like suck-ups to her, nodded eagerly.

But his words had given her an idea. True, half-eaten, greasy garlic bread wrapped in foil in her pocket for a snack was probably not the best defense against three blood-thirsty vampires, but it couldn't hurt to try. She reached down with her right hand and pulled the half unwrapped silver ball up in her hands. They were chatting amongst themselves now, no doubt looking forward to draining her.

With a small grunt, she tore open the foil. It was in worse state than she had thought, as the strong-smelling butter and dribbled off the bread and pooled on the bottom. As it was her only hope of distraction, she threw it at them.

In one of those few great bursts of luck life throws on occasion, the grease at the bottom flew up and spattered across the lead vampire's open eyes and throat. Immediately he began to shriek, and as Sango watched in a fascinated horror, he clawed at his eyes so frantically the blood and a thick white fluid began to pour. From some distant biology class, she remembered what it was called.

_Vitreous fluid..._

He screamed again, the substance that had landed in his mouth slipped down his throat and inflicted damage from the inside, and within a few moments he had collapsed on the ground, still twitching every now and then. His voice died down as his trachea was damaged beyond repair. Not that he would need it anymore.

She turned to face the other two, who were still staring at their leader in horror. Her fingers still felt slick with the oil, and knowing that the opportunity was limited, she leapt at the taller one and, against all reason, jammed her hand down his throat.

For a split second it was the oddest feeling, with burning, constricting flesh around her and pricks scraping the back of her wrist but not piercing the skin, and then she pulled out her hand as the smoke rose once again and he fell to floor just as his master had only a few seconds ago.

"Aw, gross..." She wiped her hand on her skirt, but then froze, cursing her stupidity. What was she going to do now? There was still one left...

Apparently, said attacker was just as aware of her mistake as she was, and without a moment's pause to gape at his second fallen comrade, he leapt at her, fangs flashing slightly despite their yellowish tint. His eyes were stretched wide and his fingers bent like bird talons.

_Like I'm gonna try that trick again!_

Sango cringed and leapt to the side, hands out braced for impact. Fortunately, her nearly-obsessive knowledge of basic self-defense tricks kicked in, and she rolled across the pavement with barely a scratch. When she looked up, a familiar blob of black hair became visible. Only it was surrounded by white.

_What the hell...Kagome?_

Before she even had time to process the discovery of her friend, it felt like some invisible force grabbed and began dragging her along the pavement. It was almost like a wind tunnel, only, to her horror, Sango simply could not hold on to anything. Everything reachable—trees, street poles, even the other, struggling vampire—were all being dragged along with her. Yet she still seemed to be moving farther away from Kagome, why wasn't it sucking her in too? Whatever it was.

"Stop it, the girl's caught it in!" A harsh, feminine tone rang through the air, and though there was still a harsh wind blowing into her eyes, Sango caught a glimpse of a tall figure in the middle of the street. Or, more accurately, standing on top of an armored vehicle stopped in the middle of the street. If she hadn't been so close to certain doom at that point, Sango would have burst out laughing.

A young woman, probably in her twenties, who could pass for Kagome was dressed in, of all things appropriate for the moment, priestess robes and even had a bow and arrow slung over her back. And she wasn't the only one. There was a giant white blur mixed with red flying right at her, and the next moment she was huddled against the truck's front tire, safe from the mysterious wind.

"Are you okay?" Amber eyes met her own, and Sango's eyes widened. They weren't a normal human color, which could only mean—she shoved away from him, only his arms around her were unnaturally tight.

"It's all right...what's your name?" The woman was back, and it was true, she did look just like Kagome. Only older and with no tan. "He's a half-breed, but he won't hurt you, okay? And that _idiot_—" she shot a glare back out to the school compound, where another man was standing, in even odder clothes yet, "shut up the wind tunnel. He has no sense of when to use it, though I suppose when he saw a girl about to be killed, he just acted on instinct..."

"Like I'll let a beauty like this die...hello..." The man walked up with an exaggerated swagger. He too was dressed in robes, only his were purple and black. He even had sandals and a staff to match. Most interestingly, on his right hand was a thick glove with a string of beads wrapped around it. "My name's Miroku, but you can call me...uh...Miroku. And since I saved your life and all and maybe we won't be living that long anyway, would you potentially maybe perhaps by chance be interested in the possibility of bearing my chi—" His staff was snatched from him and mercilessly banged around his head.

The miko was back again, and her serene face was filled with rage. "One, you didn't save her life, you nearly killed her! Two, what's up with those lines? Who do you think you are? Let me think...how about, a bum slacker monk who steals half the funds so he can pick up girls and show off that stupid hand trick? And another thing—"

"Um..." Sango spoke up slightly to put a stop to the tirade and save this 'Miroku', who seemed to be shrinking a little with each word, but the hanyou put his hand on her shoulder.

"Best to let her let it all out..." he muttered softly, shaking his head.

"How...entertaining. Is this really the company you keep, InuYasha?"

Everyone standing there froze, including about five more people that had exited the truck. They were all men, one of them dressed in a ridiculous fur outfit. However, like 'InuYasha', he too gave off that strange aura.

_Is he another one of the..._

But her thought was interrupted when she heard a soft moan of pain.

_KAGOME!!_

Her friend was draped in the speaker's arms. Long silvery hair, golden eyes that looked so similar to InuYasha's...

_Oh no..._

Kagome was breathing quickly, fast enough to be clearly heard. There was a strange rattling coming from her chest, like she had a cold. When Sango looked closer, she could see two marks on her neck, some sort of black—veins—radiating out from them across her friend's throat. Her trademark blouse was soaked in blood, though the wounds did not seem to be bleeding any more.

Sesshoumaru drawled out, "How ironic though...I seem to be sharing the same—friends—as you are this afternoon, _brother_..." He tilted her head up slightly, so her face was clearly visible.

"They could be twins, couldn't they? Not that I need to recognize their faces to tell..." he traced a long, slim finger down her cheek, and a hissing sound permeated the air. When he lifted up his hand, the fingertip had turned black, as if he had laid it on the stove too long.

The oddly-dressed woman looked speechless as she took in Kagome's features. Somehow, her face had gone even paler, and her hands convulsively tightened around the bow, longing to shoot an arrow. InuYasha looked nearly the same, though he seemed stunned more by Sesshoumaru's demonstration than anything else. Miroku merely laid his left hand over the rosary beads wrapped around his right arm, loosening them slightly, his dark eyes never leaving the vampire's face.

At the monk's gesture, said creature merely lifted an elegantly sculpted brow. "Oh? Didn't my brother's little whore teach you to be more careful with that? Hate to kill a pretty girl, isn't that what you were saying earlier?" He shifted Kagome about in his arms, and her head slumped against his shoulder. "Not that it matters..."

"Wh-what do you mean?" The other members of the group that had just arrived looked at her in surprise. Kikyou was never one to stutter, Sesshoumaru or not.

He chose to pause a few seconds before answering, long figures brushing the girl's hair out of her closed eyes. "She's much like you, though I suppose you wouldn't know that. How long has it been now, six—seven years?"

She gritted her teeth while Sango listened in, slightly confused but still tremendously worried for her friend. "Shut up."

"Well that would go contrary to your earlier impulse, correct? Now then, as I was saying, you're very alike." He glanced at his burned forefinger, and the black still remained. "So much spiritual power...maybe even more than you...though I've taken care of that...and no, she's not dead..." he spoke impassively at her horrified face.

"Not yet, anyway..." And with that, he dropped her carelessly at his feet, and in a black and white blur, melted into the air. As soon as he disappeared, Kikyou rushed up to Kagome and checked for a pulse. She sighed in relief after a few seconds, apparently having found one, but prodded the marks on her neck, looking concerned.

"Um..." InuYasha cleared his throat slightly and tried to attract her attention.

She didn't respond, but instead checked the other side of her throat.

"Kikyou..."

"What?!"

"I don't mean to rush you or anything, but there are still people out there to save..."

"They can wait!"

The men looked at each other in surprise, both at her obviously distressed tone and at what she had said. If they didn't know any better, they would have sworn it sounded like she was genuinely...emotionally upset.

"What did that albino mean, when he spoke to you?" The man in the fur outfit stepped up, and Sango saw his eyes clearly. Sapphire blue, bright and sharp as the actual gemstones.

Kikyou stiffened, and then, with an uncharacteristically gentle gesture, tried to lift Kagome up in her arms. However, the girl's dead weight was too much, and InuYasha rushed forward to take her burden.

"Don't touch her!" The priestess jerked away from him, gasping slightly. He looked slightly hurt, but she shook her head at him.

"It'll burn you if you touch her...even I can feel it...and this is _my_ responsibility now...I can't believe she got mixed up in this. Though I should've seen this one coming..."

"What coming?"

"Her gifts...they're quite common in our family line. From our father's side, actually..." With those words, Kagome's older sister was able to place her in the truck bed, and then climbed in after her.

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Right-o. Anyway, probably a few necessary words about this fic.

It was nearly abandoned for about a year, but when I saw all the rather sad and touching reviews coming in, I decided to write another chapter. Then the consolation prize grew into the longest single chapter I have ever written. Sad, I know. I wish the quality could have been better, but I have no time now-a-days.

This chapter is longer than the rest of the story put together, I just realized. Double victory cheer for me!!!!!

I hope you did enjoy it after all, it even has a bit of a plot going, but know that I'm not that much into IY anymore and this was my first story EVER. So naturally, it'd be a bit inconsistent. Particularly in the style, though I like to think that I've grown as a writer since then. At the very least, I write longer chapters, right? Some of the old ones were even less than 1000 words, how sad is that?

Feel free to review, it's the only thing keeping this story alive. It's like the iron lung of Tender is the Night.

Absent writer (this story was what made me change my name from Haku-dono. That, and I'd decided I didn't like pretentious Wapanese names/words anymore. What a baka. Somehow, I refrained from the temptation of using that word in Kikyou's speech). I know, the plot for this chapter is pretty unoriginal, but it'll change from here, assuming I update.


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